Allow me at the outset to extend my greetings to all
those who are participating in the work of the General
Assembly at its sixty-sixth session and to wish them
every success in their endeavours. It gives me great
pleasure to congratulate the Secretary-General, His
Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his reappointment to
that high post for a second term. I also wish to
congratulate Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his
election to the post of President of the General
Assembly at the sixty-sixth session, and wish him
fruitful work.
In 2011, Uzbekistan has been celebrating a
landmark date in its modern history — the twentieth
anniversary of independence. Only 20 years have
passed since the Republic of Uzbekistan became an
independent State and joined the ranks of the fully
fledged Members of the United Nations, having gained
the right to decide and build on its own present and
future, but over that period Uzbekistan has made
significant progress in building an independent State,
developing the national economy and modernizing the
country.
During those years, the Republic of Uzbekistan
has transformed itself from a sluggish raw materials-
based economy, with a destructive monoculture of
cotton, an underdeveloped industrial and social
infrastructure and low-per-capita consumption, into a
modern country with a steadily developing economy.
The following evidence clearly testifies to the
fact that, over the past 20 years of independent
development, Uzbekistan’s economy has grown by a
factor of 3.5 and the population’s total income has
increased by a factor of 20. Despite the negative
impact of the ongoing global financial and economic
crisis, Uzbekistan continues to develop at a steady
pace. Over the past five years, the growth in gross
domestic product (GDP) has averaged 8.5 per cent.
This year, it is expected that that level will be
maintained.
Striking achievements have been made in
implementing the goals set out in the Millennium
Declaration. During the years of independence, State
expenditure in the social sector has increased more
than fivefold. About 60 per cent of the annual budget is
devoted to the development of health care, education,
communal services, social welfare and other sectors.
Some 82.5 per cent of the population has access to
clean drinking water and 83.5 per cent to natural gas.
I would like to underscore in particular the huge
role and significance in all those changes of education
11-51390 2
and people’s increasing awareness. Annual expenditure
on education in Uzbekistan amounts to 10 to 12 per
cent of GDP, whereas that indicator worldwide does
not exceed 3 to 5 per cent. An exceptional national
programme to train skilled personnel and workers has
been launched. From 2009, a mandatory 12-year
education programme was introduced. Uzbekistan has
set up more than 1,600 modern vocational colleges and
high schools.
Such indicators, which are not often seen across
the world, clearly affirm that our most important goal
is ensure the quality of life and protect the interests of
citizens. The Uzbek model for the country’s
democratization and transition to a socially oriented
market economy, adopted in the early years of our
independence, has served as the basis for those
achievements.
Our country is steadily progressing towards
achieving the goal we have set ourselves, namely, to
join the ranks of the modern, developed and
democratic States and to ensure for its people a high
standard of living and a dignified place in the world
community.
Today, we have every reason to affirm that we
have achieved the main goal, that is, the country’s
irreversible and steady reform and democratization.
The conceptual framework for further deepening the
democratic reforms and establishing civil society in the
country, developed by the President of Uzbekistan,
Islam Karimov, in November 2010, provides for the
further development and strengthening of Uzbekistan’s
long-term sustainable development model. The
conceptual framework calls for further democratization
of State authority and governance, reforming the
judicial system, establishing and developing civil
society institutions, ensuring freedom of speech and
information, developing the electoral law, further
deepening market reform and liberalizing the economy.
In assessing the state of affairs in Central Asia, it
is important to note that, given its geopolitical and
geostrategic significance and the very rich natural
resources, the region continues to be the focus of the
international community’s attention in the context of
the growing threats and challenges to security and
stability in the world.
First, the war that has been under way in
Afghanistan for more than 30 years continues to be the
main destabilizing factor, not only in the region but
also in the entire world. More unfortunately, the
situation remains tense despite all the measures now
being taken by the international community. It is
important to underscore, in particular, that today,
everyone is sure that there is no military solution to the
Afghan problem. Almost all leaders, including those
involved in resolving the Afghan issue and the direct
military command of the coalition forces in
Afghanistan, are of this view.
We firmly believe that the Afghan people
themselves must resolve their country’s problems.
Only through a compromise between the warring
parties with the Afghans themselves being involved in
that process, as well as the socio-economic recovery of
Afghanistan with the help of the international
community, will it be possible to find a way out of the
current deadlock in Afghanistan’s situation.
President Karimov already stated that at the
NATO Summit in Bucharest in April 2008. We see the
future of Afghanistan as a peaceful and steadily
developing State that poses no threat to neighbouring
countries, such that the people living in the region can
fully enjoy the benefits of friendly, mutually beneficial
and equal relations. Uzbekistan will continue to pursue
a policy of good-neighbourliness and cooperation
towards Afghanistan on a bilateral basis, in accordance
with mutual national interests.
Secondly, the tragic events in Kyrgyzstan in June
2010 posed a serious challenge to peace and stability in
the Central Asian region. More than a year has passed
since those bloody events. However, to date no
political or legal conclusions on all those forces and
specific individuals who ordered, organized and
perpetrated the crimes have been drawn. Until such
investigations are completed and the perpetrators,
irrespective of their nationality, origin or position, are
punished, it is difficult to envisage the restoration of
trust and cooperation between the Uzbek community
and the Kyrgyz.
Thirdly, the socio-economic development not
only of our country, but also of the entire Central Asian
region, is hampered by the ecological catastrophe of
the Aral Sea. In practically the span of one generation,
it has changed from once being one of the most
exceptional and most beautiful seas into a drying and
disappearing pool. Today, the Aral Sea basin faces a
range of ecological, socio-economic and demographic
problems of global consequences. The Secretary-
3 11-51390
General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, himself was convinced of
that while visiting the Aral Sea last year.
In such circumstances, attempts to build huge
hydropower facilities on the upper reaches of the Amu
Darya and Syr Darya rivers are counterproductive and
dangerous, since they pose serious threats to public
safety in terms both of environmental, social and
technical risks and of preserving the volume and
course of the river flow.
In addressing such problems, we proceed on the
premise that any use of transboundary watercourses
must take into account the interests of all States located
in their basins, and should be carried out in accordance
with international law. I refer in particular to the
Convention on the Protection and Use of
Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
of 17 March 1992 and the Convention on the Law of
the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses of
21 May 1997.
We do not ignore the rights of the upstream
countries to develop their hydropower sector. In our
view, this is a very important sector of the economy.
However, it would be safer and more rational to build
cascades of small hydropower plants with the same
total production capacity. Our country’s position is not
only fully consistent with relevant international law
and accepted regulations, but it is also, and most
importantly, derived from them.
In conclusion, Uzbekistan supports the theme
proposed by the President of the General Assembly for
this session’s general debate, namely, “The role of
mediation in the settlement of disputes by peaceful
means”. We fully share his view regarding the
importance of strengthening multilateral machinery so
as to ensure a stable and just world order that is
capable of effectively responding to emerging threats
to regional stability and international security.